Our 9 year old still wets the bed. EVERY night. I am at my wits end. He does suffer from ADHD.?

Question

Takes Ritalin every morning at 7:30 or 8....We could buy stock in Good Nites, but, he is so old now, he goes right through them. Doctor just says he'll have to out grow it. I don't know if i can wait. any suggestions? Please?

and, uh......miss 'whatduh'? good name for you. i am not bashing my son, you idiot. i just know lots of kids suffer, yes.....suffer, from the exact same thing, wanted to talk to parents who have dealt with it....not you. i would contact you through the contact me button, but can see that wasn't working for you....you probably got notes from serious people all the time. if you don't wanna answer, stay the hell away from the question. thank you.

Answer 1

Has the doctor done any tests on him yet? Urinalysis? Ultrasound? Is this just your ped/family doc? Have you seen a Urologist? If not, make him an appointment with a Urologist and get an ultrasound done if it hasn't been done yet to make sure all the plumbing is in working order. Also, make an appointment with a chiropractor, as they can do a lot to help with bedwetting if they are experienced in working with kids. See my son's story to follow..........

Our stuggle with enuresis

Keithen turned 7 years old in February and still wets the bed at night and sometimes occasionally still has accidents during the day. Here is a little about our journey with enuresis.

When my son turned 5 he was bedwetting every night and having at least one, usually more, accidents each day. Our family doctor did a urinalysis to make sure he didn't have any infections or anything and that came back normal. He referred us to a urologist. The urologist put him on Ditropan. He also ordered an u/s. I filled the perscription and waited a bit, unsure if I wanted to give it to him. We decided to wait on the u/s, feeling pretty sure that this was not physical but instead a discipline one. (Didn't care if he was wet...wouldn't stop what he was doing to go...engrossed in play...we saw a pattern to when accidents happened...etc.)

That wasn't working so we tried the meds - I think we did a total of 3 doses of Ditropan. He HATED it. There was no pretty color or flavoring to it to make it palatable to kids. It smelled very strong and tasted nasty. The side effects were horrible. He would get dizzy and he fell asleep in the middle of the day. With the start of Kindergarten coming up soon, I felt the side effects were unacceptable. I didn't want him getting sleepy like that when he was in school and he was simply not himself on the medication. We stopped them - like I said I think we tried 3 doses. We struggled through the rest of the year on our own.

Around his 6th birthday, someone on the Mothering boards suggested chiropractic to me as a treatment for enuresis. We were open to the idea and decided it was worth a try. Through a network of local mothers, we found a chiropractor with special training in treating kids.

We started treatments 3 times per week. This did seem to help. The first time that he woke up dry, I honestly cried. I was so happy for him to see that he was making progress. And I was so relieved that maybe we had found an answer. At our next appointment I had to choke back tears of joy and relief as I told our chiropractor our good news. I even asked to give him a hug because I was so deeply grateful for the help he had given my son.

Shortly after staring treatment, he was waking up dry about once every two weeks - a huge accomplishment compared to how things had been! And his number of daytime accidents decreased. Around this same time we had a checkup with our family doc and with his urologist. We refused to try the meds again because of the side effects. We reported that the chiropractic treatment was helping and agreed to do an ultrasound. The ultrasound came back normal.

As his chiropractic scans got better and his accidents decreased, his visit frequency decreased. After a couple of months of chiropractic treatment, our chiropractor suggested that we try DHA supplements. These made a HUGE difference for us. This was probably the point that nighttime accidents went down to once a week or so. Daytime accidents at this point were reduced to ones that seemed undeniably behavioral (only wetting while playing on the computer). We were doing so much better!

You may wonder why the DHA supplements were recommended and how they help. Children with enuresis have increased levels of prostaglandin E2 and nitric oxide. Omega-3 fatty acids are known to inhibit the synthesis of prostaglandin E2 and renal nitric oxide. Bed-wetting children have an underdeveloped region of the brain that controles nighttime micturition (as noted by their inappropriate startle response). Omega-3 fatty acids play a critical role in the development of and function of the CNS including micturition control and startle response. Nations with the lowest prevalence of bed-wetting children consume more than double the fish/seafood as compared to the nations with the highest prevalence of bedwetting children.

A week before his 7th birthday, I was frustrated once again. He had backslid. He was no longer cooperating with taking his DHA and he was wetting the bed almost every night. (He still wears pullups to bed.) He had been having a daytime accident several days per week again. I still think those are mostly behavoral - tied in to computer/gameboy/etc. - activities where he is super focused. Chiropractic visits are now only once every 2 weeks as his body looks good, so I don't think the increase in accidents was due to a physical problem.

We have gone through periods of taking his Gameboy away waiting for him to go a week with no daytime accidents. A month after he turned 7, things seemed to be looking up. He was having occasional dry nights and was having more dry days than wet ones.

I think I do need to get him back on the DHA on a regular basis as the drop in the DHA levels in his body may be creating some of our problems (at least the night-time part). I may have to find ways to sneak it into his food if he continues to avoid taking the pills. We had to stop seeing the chiropractor back in April because we couldn't afford it anymore. He has definately regressed since then. :-( I wish we couldn afford to go back to regular adjustments.

In Kindergarten he only had 2 or 3 accidents at school all year long. This past year, in first grade, I think he had 2 or 3 accidents at school which were "giggle pees" when he was laughing too hard with a friend in gym class and at a class party. I'm relieved that it hasn't been a big problem for him at school. I remember that my cousin was "that kid" in grade school who was always being sent to the class for clean clothes. I remember the stigma that it can carry to be the "stinky kid" who wets his pants. I am thankful that he doesn't seem to be dealing with that at school.

I hope our experience helps some other families out there who are struggling with this problem. I know I am eternally grateful that we found chiropractic and the DHA supplements to help our son instead of going the traditional medical route with the prescription drugs.

Answer 2

You've probably already established that there's no medical reason like a bladder or urinary tract infection or diabetes for it. Ritalin is a psychostimulant and one of the side effects might be increased urine frequency but a dose that early in the morning shouldn't affect him into the night. You could try some behavior modification therapy. First, make sure he eliminates or cuts down on the caffeinated and high sugar drinks and sodas as they contribute to the increase in urinary frequency. You could then look into these specialized pads that your child would sleep on that ring an alarm when it gets wet (not sure about the name or brand but I'm sure you could find it if you google it or ask a child psychologist or psychiatrist). You may have to be vigilant at first and wake him up as soon as the alarm rings, perhaps have his bed in your room or sleep in his room. Wake him up right away and walk him over, don't carry him, to the bathroom and have him urinate. Depending on your child, it might take a while to train him to wake up when his bladder is full. Most likely, his bladder muscles have matured enough if he can hold it in during the day and go when it's appropriate. However, he hasn't learned to wake up when his bladder muscles have expanded. Also, make sure he urinates before he goes to bed as a preventative. If you ask around, a professional, such as a child psychologist or psychiatrist, who specializes in child behavior modification should be able to help should you need further or more aggressive intervention. Good Luck!

P.S. to all those that question her parenting skills: Get off your high horses and stop with the judgement! Attention Deficit/ Hyperacticvity Disorder (ADHD) is a real childhood and adult psychiatric disorder that when properly diagnosed, which this mom has likely ensured, except for the most benign and most manageable cases, requires real psychological, behavioral and/or medical intervention. You can't call someone lazy for asking for help unless you walk a mile in their footsteps...

Answer 3

I don't have any real advice but I wanted to offer you some support. My son has ADHD too. He is on Adderall XR and it has had a wonderful effect for him. Once he started it, he instantly become dry at night. Ophelia mentioned ADHD has nothing to do with being wet at night. In some cases, that may be true but my son's dr. said the medicine would help him to be dry at night and it did. I do not understand the connection at all but I'm happy about it. By no means am I suggesting you change his medicine. If you are like us, it is a struggle to find the right thing and the right dose. I just wanted to reassure you that not everyone's advise is correct. I know how hard it is to be a parent of a kid with ADHD. Everything seems to be harder to come by! It is great you have discussed it with the dr. When your kid has ADHD everyone seems to have advice for you . They think the solutions are so easy but that is not the case. I'm sure you have tried limiting drinks and using the bathroom before bed. I would just go by what the dr. says. I know it must be frustrating but it should pass. It took my brother forever but he finally outgrew it too. I remember my parents making him shameful about it. That wasn't right. Just try to be supportive even if you do feel like you can't stand it another second! Hopefully it won't last much longer.

Answer 4

I'd get a second opinion from a doctor. There could be something wrong physiologically. Also, there is something you can buy (sorry i don't know the name). It goes on the mattress, and when the child urinates, it makes a sound to wake them up. He may just not be feeling the urge when sleeping, and this will help with that. ADHD shouldn't have anything to do with him wetting the bed. Unless he is taking medicine at night to help him sleep, it might be to much and that might be why he isn't waking up to use the restroom. So, his medicine may need to be adjusted.
also, you're not bashing your son, it's hard and stressful to have children. Some people who answered your question are rude.

Answer 5

If he is on Ritalin, then I guess your question has already been answered by a doctor. Is the Ritalin responsible for the bed wetting, who knows. Did his dad wet the bed as a child? He may not want to admit it but it often runs in families. He should be seen by a pediatrician who specializes in ADHD as it is commonly prescribed by most all doctors these days. Make sure you have a mattress protector on the bed and don't make a big deal about it. I'm sure he feel worse about it than you do.

Answer 6

We've had this problem at our house - and you may be in for several more years of this.

Most of the treatment bases here have been covered, so I'll not try to add to that.

But for our guys, we just ignored the problem at home. At nine, if they could help it, they would. We made it very clear that it was no big deal, that eventually he would grow out of it. We made our son responsible for changing the sheets as needed. We didn't use pull-ups. We did use plastic sheets and pillow covers.

When we traveled or when he went to sleepovers, he used DDAVP. We did all we could to help him avoid embarassment in the meantime.

Once, when he was 11, he had an accident on an airplane - despite the medicine. As soon as I realized what had happened, I threw a blanket over him, woke him up, whispered in his ear what had happened, and helped him change under the blanket. Then, after he stood up, I conveniently spilled my bottle of water right on his seat.

Noone else ever found out. I'm still amazed that we were able to be so discreet.

Answer 7

There are many factors behind bedwetting. Some kids just naturally outgrow it, others take longer.

There are things sold, that some feel help, but none really seem to cure the problem.

Occasionally, there is a psycological aspect that might need to be explored.

I would talk to my sons pediatrician.

In the meantime a plastic mattress wrap is prudent as well as a large quantity of sheets.

Personally, I chose to wait it out, and not focus on it, nor on him, we talked about it, and I made it his responsiblilty to get his wet sheets into the laundry.

Slowly the problem resolved.

Remember, he is embarassed, and as confused as you are.

Many kids just sleep so soundly they don't even notice. It isn't anyones fault, and putting too much focus on it will only make the problem worse.

Talk to his doc, and try to be patient.

I say to you what my Mom said to me; This too shall pass.

Answer 8

No real advice but you could try and adult size small depends pull-up underpants...they will hold more urine. some times the bladder takes longer to mature and sometimes there can be an underlying reason that he is still wetting the bed. Please be patient and try not to get angry with him as he can not help what is happening. I am sure he is very embarrassed as well.There is a way he can help though teach him how to use the washing machine and dryer. He can toss the wet thing in the washer in the morning and then in the dryer and save you some work.
~Good luck~ remember you are not alone ....

Answer 9

Boys especially seem to have a problem with bedwetting more then girls.
My best advice is to get a plastic cover for the mattress, no drinks for about 2 hours before bedtime, make him try and go before laying down and most importantly do not make him feel bad if he has an accident.
You had him checked out by a doctor, so the possible medical reasons are ruled out, patience and if it doesn't improve get a second opinion.

Answer 10

Set a timer, if you can find out he goes at a regular time get him up shortly before then, if it happens more randomly set it several times a night. Hopefully going once around 2:30 or 3 will get him through the night. You will probably need to get him up the first few nights so try to start on a weekend. Having him go at a set time should help alot, he'll get used to getting up and learn to go straight back to sleep so it shouldn't disrupt his day. This might be all it takes he'll learn to get up before to alarm and go before an accident. Please be patient it's the best way to help him. The very best of luck to you both

Answer 11

Time to look at his diet. Wheat is the #1 allergy that causes continuous bed wetting. I would also look into possible psychological reasons. If he is ADHD I would assume he is probably in some kind of counselling. Low self esteem can follow this quite often. I would bring it up to a therrapist and make sure that he has not suffered any kind of sexual abuse as well.